Jim and Susie Pokorski, founder, and chair and executive director of Young Texas Artists Inc., respectively, with Grand Prize winner violinist Douglas Kwon, who took home Gold in the Strings division in 2017. This year's event is set for March 8-10 in downtown Conroe. less

Jim and Susie Pokorski, founder, and chair and executive director of Young Texas Artists Inc., respectively, with Grand Prize winner violinist Douglas Kwon, who took home Gold in the Strings division in 2017. ... more

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George Iftinca, left, a student from Spain attending Southern Methodist University, took top honors at the Entergy Young Texas Artists competition in 2001. He talks over the competition with fellow musician Victoria Korchinskaya Kogan, a graduate student at Texas Christian University, and Susie Pokorski, event chairwoman. less

George Iftinca, left, a student from Spain attending Southern Methodist University, took top honors at the Entergy Young Texas Artists competition in 2001. He talks over the competition with fellow musician ... more

Photo: David Hopper

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Jessica Jones receives her sign-up gift from volunteer Joyce Musselman during the 24th Annual Young Texas Artists Competition held at the Crighton Theatre in Conroe in 2008.

Jessica Jones receives her sign-up gift from volunteer Joyce Musselman during the 24th Annual Young Texas Artists Competition held at the Crighton Theatre in Conroe in 2008.

Photo: David Hopper

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Karen Lynn Marston was one of the competitors in the 1992 Young Texas Artists Music Competition.

Karen Lynn Marston was one of the competitors in the 1992 Young Texas Artists Music Competition.

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Three of the 29 participants from the 1988 Young Texas Artists Music Competition that was held in downtown Conroe at the Crighton Theatre.

Three of the 29 participants from the 1988 Young Texas Artists Music Competition that was held in downtown Conroe at the Crighton Theatre.

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Karen Lynn Marston was one of the competitors in the 1992 Young Texas Artists Music Competition.

Karen Lynn Marston was one of the competitors in the 1992 Young Texas Artists Music Competition.

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Kenneth Broberg at The Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition held at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. In 2013, Broberg received a Silver Medal in the Young Texas Artists Music Competition in Conroe. In 2017, he was a Silver Medalist in The International Van Cliburn piano competition. Susie Pokorski calls his silver metal in the Van Cliburn competition one of YTA's crowning moments. less

Kenneth Broberg at The Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition held at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. In 2013, Broberg received a Silver Medal in the Young Texas Artists Music Competition in ... more

Photo: Carolyn Cruz

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Young Texas Artists Music Competition supports musical excellence since 1983

She said the appreciation of the arts in Conroe goes back to when she was a little girl in the then-tiny town of Conroe.

"It goes back to when the Conroe Service League ladies made sure that the school children of Conroe got a symphony performance and they had docents from the Museum of Fine Arts come to Conroe and bring great classic works of art and they took them to all the fourth and fifth grade classrooms," she said. "I may not remember what I learned in fourth or fifth grade, but I remember the day that the museum lady walked in with Raphael's Madonna. It was magic."

There was also her grandmother Iola Everett Gentry, who along with the other ladies of the Pan American Roundtable did what they could to bring culture to Conroe. "I know that the roots of Conroe being an arts town go back several generations," Pokorski said.

Now since 1983, Pokorski, her husband Jim and a host of supporters and volunteers for the Young Texas Artists Music Competition have been continuing to cultivate a passion for music and the arts through the music annual competition.

The competition brings young musicians ages 18-32 from around the world to perform in Conroe at the Crighton Theatre. The musicians are either Texas-born or studying at Texas colleges and universities.

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This week the major music competition with an international flair plays out again with preliminary rounds taking place in downtown Conroe. The Finalists Concert and awards take place on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Crighton Theatre.

Prior to the concert, a Bach, Beethoven and Barbecue gala takes place in support of the YTA music competition at 5 p.m. in Martin's Hall just down the street from the Crighton Theatre.

Both of these events wrap up the Rising Stars and Legends of Texas celebration of the arts taking place in Conroe today through Saturday. The Texas Tenors along with musicians from the Conroe Symphony Orchestra perform today at 4 p.m. at the Crighton Theatre. Then a week full of free performing arts events takes place in the evenings in downtown Conroe. A whole day full of art, music and theater in downtown Conroe is set for Saturday and wraps up the week-long celebration.

Today the event is a prestigious official music competition of the state of Texas, but in the late 1970s and early 1980s interest in things like classical music and opera was a slow build.

After coming together as a community to renovate and rebuild the Crighton Theatre, the jewel of downtown Conroe reopened with a week of events in January 1979. The renovation of the old theatre also brought about the formation of the Montgomery County Performing Arts Society.

The first president of MCPAS was Paula McClain and insurance man Jim Pokorski was in charge of booking talent for the MCPAS season.

The first MCPAS show booked by Pokorski was "The Barber of Seville" by the Texas Opera Theatre. Of course he wanted a full house for the show.

Naysayers told Pokorski, "You can't sell opera in Conroe."

His response was "Watch me."

He brought three singers from the Texas Opera Theatre, two males and a female, to sing as a part of the lunch program for the then all-male Conroe Noon Lions Club.

"They were shocked. After that they said it's OK to go to the opera," Jim Pokorski said.

That was the start, but Pokorski felt like some sort of competition was what the MCPAS season needed.

He conferred with Sam Houston State University music professors Linda and Gary Foster.

They selected pianist Renee' Hostetler who performed on March 19, 1983 as the first Young Texas Artist event.

Initial founders of the competition included Pokorski, Linda Ricketts, Marion Gerhart and the Fosters.

According to Gerhart as told to Susie Pokorski, the first event went so well, the organizers decided to start seeking out several young Texas artists.

Over the mid-1980s the competition evolved as a part of the MCPAS season and included more and more musicians.

"As we grew and more things happened, we were made aware that people would come to something like this," Jim Pokorski said. "Women would get their husbands to come to the events and then they'd be aware that this (opera and classical music) was OK."

The competition featured two divisions always including piano, with alternating years of voice and miscellaneous instruments.

In the mid-1990s, the competition moved to Lone Star College-Montgomery.

Fired up new leadership

By the late 1990s, the competition had hit a slump and all those involved for many years had grown weary of all that it took to put on the competition.

Several volunteers mentioned to Susie Pokorski that they were thinking about discontinuing the competition.

Alarmed, Susie Pokorski expressed to them that letting the competition go would be a big mistake.

The asked "Do you want it?"

She pondered the question, because at the time, she didn't know anything about running a music competition. She had just left her father's Moore Supply Company in 1997 and was in a transition phase.

After consulting her cousin on the piano faculty at Florida State University, her father A. Lavoy Moore who possessed both musical and marketing credits, and with the support of past chairman, she took the competition on. She also garnered the support of Houston classical radio station KUHF and that relationship continues today.

Her first competition to chair was in 1998.

"I fell head over heels in love," Pokorski said. "I thought this was the most fun thing."

In 1999, Entergy came on as a sponsor and she could hardly believe it.

The 1999 competition also lead her to meet pianist Marco Fatichenti, one of the competition's most popular performers.

Fatichenti came to Conroe from Southern Methodist University by bus.

The handsome pianist from Spain spent the first nights of the competition sleeping in a local hotel lobby as he didn't have enough money to get a room.

He played in a tuxedo handmade by his mother in Spain.

He ended up wowing the audience and judges and won the competition.

At the after party, Susie Pokorski noticed him gobbling up food and later asked if they could drive him back to his hotel.

When they found out he was sleeping in the lobby, the Pokorskis put him up in their home for the rest of their stay.

The following year, they brought him back to perform with the Conroe Symphony Orchestra.

He was so well received that the audience would leap up for a standing ovation after each movement of his performance - an unusual occurrence.

Behind the scenes, the Pokorskis wept. After the concert, a line formed around the corner at West Conroe Baptist Church.

Fatichenti went on to received a full scholarship to the Royal College of London and today tours throughout Europe while teaching and lecturing.

The Pokorskis continues to stay in touch with Fatichenti as well as several of the other musicians.

And even after 20 years of leading the competition, Susie Pokorski said she still feels that magic.

"There's something so inspiring about seeing a young person who is so passionate and so excellent in performance," she said. "They've polished their performances and they want to give to the audience. They want to share the beauty that they've found in the music with others."

Many of the performers and winners have gone on to noted music careers. Among the YTA alumni are Grammy nominees, Metropolitan Opera singers, YouTube stars, music teachers and touring musicians.

Awards, accomplishments and tickets

Through the years, the competition has hit several milestones and accomplishments.

The competition is an official music competition for the state of Texas.

In 2015, the Young Texas Music Competition became a nonprofit separating itself from the MCPAS.

In 2007, Emelyne Bingham came to YTA as the Artistic Director. She is the Senior Lecturer in the Teaching of Music at Vanderbilt University. She remains in this role today.

A board of directors was established and it was chaired by Richard Griffin, a former superintendent for Conroe ISD.

Susie Pokorski said a crowning glory for the competition is one of the YTA participants winning the Silver Medal in the world's most prestigious piano competition, The Van Cliburn International in 2017.

Kenneth Broberg was a silver medalist in the YTA 2013 competition.

To purchase tickets to the gala and concert, visit crightontheatre.org or call the Crighton Theatre box office at 936-441-SHOW (7469).